“Following a successful year in 2015 for the motorcycle market, registrations continued their upward trend in January”, said Stephen Latham, head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA) which represents motorcycle retailers across the UK, commenting on the latest figures released by the Motor Cycle Industry Association.

Motorcycle registrations were up 17 per cent and scooters up 16.5 per cent compared to the same month last year. The total was up 14.2 per cent on sales in 2015.

Latham continued, “Most power ranges improved with the exception of sales of sub 50cc mopeds which were down -8 per cent. The supersport sector was also down -4.1 per cent – a possible reason why Ducati did not make the top-ten manufacturers list in January as they specialise in this particular range of bikes.

“It is also important to remember that January is typically a low volume month. A total of 5,789 bikes were registered – which equates to just 4.65 per cent of the 124,359 registrations predicted by the MCIA for 2016.

“Irregularities such as the 125cc budget brand of Lexmoto recording the second highest volume for the month – 624 registrations behind Honda at 1,096 units in the month is not something we expect to see often, therefore January is not an accurate indicator for the remainder of the year.

“It will be interesting to see what the market has in store for 2016, and if it can build on the success of 2015.”